Yield is a Dark Horse for the Grain Markets

Published August 1, 2019

Utterback Marketing president Bob Utterback says the grains could stabilize after this latest selloff as traders wait for the August 12 USDA report. “The burden is on the bear to prove acres will be below 3.5 to 4 million,” he says. “There’s a lot of pressure is on USDA to quantify this.” Utterback says the one dark horse in the grains is yield. “I’ve had farmers looking at the crops through Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Last year, there were 70 to 80 bushel soybean yields. Now, farmers are thinking there will be lots of 30 and 40 bushel soybean yields. That could curtail production, but it’s not going to make things as tight as people want them to be. We’re stuck.”